Thursday, September 6, 2012

Qing Dao Beer Museum

In spite of my misadventures getting to my destination I had
no problems once I got there. The train pulled in a little after 8PM, which
gave me ample time to secure lodging and scrounge for food before falling into
bed.

As with other cities I venture to by myself I had no hotel
reservations in Qing Dao. My modus operandi has not changed. It is somewhat
akin to blindfolding myself, jumping off a cliff and seeing how things come out
once I land. So far things have turned out very well. This time I chose the
very first city bus I came to – bus 303. By stroke of luck it wended its way
down Hotel World, a stretch of road with one hotel after the other.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that the chain hotels
within my price range were all full, with the exception of one whose computer
system was down. I had to go to a high-end hotel and ended up paying over
350Yuan for that first night’s accommodation. At least I know I was not the
only one getting overcharged. Another guest, a Chinese man also complained
about the high rate.

As long as there are not two fee schedules: one for
foreigners and the other for Chinese. I don’t mind paying the same as everyone
else, even if the price is exorbitant. If I had had more energy, or if there’d been
more time (it was already quite late), I would have gone elsewhere. As it was,
my eyes were closing on their own. I figured I’d better put up for the night.

The next morning, fully rested I set out to find more
affordable quarters. Also, I had to secure a train ticket back to Wuhan pretty
quickly. With the school year starting soon, students would be traveling, thus
guaranteeing that train tickets would be a scarce commodity. Both tasks were
taken care of in short order and I spent the rest of that first day just
meandering around the beach, the shoreline and generally around town.

The next day, with heat peaking in the mid 90’s and humidity
right about 70%, I thought that would be a perfect time to visit a museum.
Again serendipity shone on me: bus 217, that stops directly in front of my
hotel, will take me straight to the Qing Dao Beer Museum!

Note that I said ‘serendipity’, not ‘dumb luck’. I noticed
that disturbing trend of saying ‘by sheer dumb luck’ a few posts ago but then
figured that luck has not much to do with my wanderings. Serendipity, a
fortunate accident fits the bill so much better.

This was one of the best museums I’ve ever been to. It is
divided into 3 sections: Part A was One Hundred Years of Beer Brewing History.
The coolest thing I learned there is that people used to buy beer in a bag
straight from the factory and drink it through a straw. So that’s why I saw
people milling about outside the museum with clear plastic bags of beer! Pardon
me but at first glance, all those bags of beer held at thigh level looked like waste
bags that catheterized people wear strapped to their leg. I thought I had
stumbled into a tour group of infirms, out for the day.

The second, and by far the coolest part of the museum was
the old brewing house. Virtually unchanged since its inception over 100 years
ago, therein displayed were huge copper kettles, vast vats, dimly lit chambers
extending into the distance. Adding to the effect were several wax figure
workers fingering the hops, standing by control panels, bending over troughs
and pens.

Tell you the truth, the old brewery creeped me out with its
low ceilings, dim, incandescent lighting, echoing chambers, tiled walls and
huge, silent machines. I was not a part of any tour group but ahead of me as
well as behind I could hear the chatter and laughter of groups as they went
through. Their ghostly voices added to the effect, ramping up the creep factor
by at least 10. Here and there were wax mannequins looking so lifelike as they
bent to their tasks that I was actually scared when I came upon one. Honestly:
I would have liked to linger and take my time through this exhibit but it was
simply too creepy. I rushed through.

The third coolest thing was that, included in the price of
the entrance ticket you get free beer and peanuts. Not as much as you want but
still: that is a pretty neat bonus. Between the old brewery and the modern
facility is an antique bar where you are served a glass of ‘raw beer’ and a
small bag of honey roasted peanuts before venturing into the modern plant.

SMALL SIDESTEP: some people who read this blog know me
personally. Others have no idea what I look like, so I thought this would be a
good time to include a picture of myself. To the best of my recollection, this
is the first time I include a picture of me in this blog.

The first picture is me enjoying my free beer and peanuts.
The second picture is me after having enjoyed my free beer and peanuts.

WARNING: I am a mean drunk and a cheap drunk. Especially on
an empty stomach. You see, I figured I would find something to eat on the way
to the museum. I didn’t, and by the time I got there the heat of the day and
the thrill of adventure had robbed me of my appetite. I didn’t reckon on
getting free beer and peanuts.

Of course I didn’t have to partake of beer or peanuts. But
who am I to refuse free stuff? And, its not like I drink beer every morning
before breakfast. Nor is it every day I tour a beer museum. In short: these
being extraordinary circumstances I forgave myself the beer. The peanuts were
less of a problem. Luckily I was able to restrain myself and not make anyone a
victim of my attitude, so, all’s well that ends well and the tour continued.

Part C was the modern brewing and packaging facilities.
Having worked in production line type food factories before I recognized almost
all the machinery and systems. First came the large, stainless steel brewing
kettles, systems monitored by electric/electronic control panels. Lone
operators were responsible for huge sections of the production floor and, in
fact as I walked the catwalk over the production area there were no workers
visible.

The next part was more active: the bottling and canning
portions of the production line. To the left canning and to the right bottling.
That is where I recognized most of the machinery. At one point, two women
responsible for quality control sat in front of a fluorescent light panel
gauging the clarity of the beer in the bottles. Their job was to stop
production if the beer was in any way discolored or contaminated. Other workers
also milled about, their responsibility being to make sure nothing stopped
production. Their work made me flash back on my days as a production worker. My
heart reached out to them. I hope they enjoy their work and that their spirits
are not crushed beneath the mind-numbing monotonous repetition of their job.

At the end of the tour we were treated to another glass of
beer, chilled and coming straight from the production floor. This beer was
lighter in color and had a more polished taste than the raw beer.

All this beer made me crave German food. After all, the
brewery was located in the heart of German Town and the streets and sidewalks
were cobbled in the style of streets in Germany. It would be reasonable to
deduce that there might be a German food restaurant somewhere close… right?

WRONG!!! Qing Dao being a coastal town, standard fare is
seafood and more seafood. Not a single restaurant in the brewery district
served anything but seafood, the very smell of which turns my stomach.